Sun brings out Lohri spirit
Chandigarh, January 13
As warm sunshine broke through the fog, thumping beats of rhythmic music reverberated against the grey concrete walls and red sandstone slabs of Panjab University’s Student Centre as hundreds of excited students twirled around a blazing bonfire to celebrate Lohri.

Students dance around a bonfire during Lohri celebrations on the Panjab University campus, in Chandigarh on Monday. — Photo Manoj Mahajan

• Bonfires mark Lohri celebrations

• Mayor attends Lohri functions

WASTE MANAGEMENT
City recommended for best practices award
Chandigarh, January 13
Chandigarh has been recommended for the City with Best Practices Award, for initiating a waste management programme. Stating this while speaking to TNS here today, former Advisor to the UT Administrator, Ms Neeru Nanda, said the award would be given by the Union Government on Republic Day to 10 best practices adopted in the country.

Betterment of force new SSP’s top priority
Chandigarh, January 13
Mr Virender Singh, joined as Senior Superintendent of Police, Headquarters and Intelligence here, today. The post had been lying vacant since December 31, last year after the transfer of Mr Ajay Kashyap to New Delhi.

Police swoops down on panchayat secretaries, 29 arrested
Chandigarh, January 13
A day after the arrest 23 agitating members of the Association of Dismissed Panchayat Secretaries of Punjab, the police, along with jawans of the Punjab Armed Police (PAP), once again swooped on the dismissed panchayat secretaries and arrested at least 29 of them in Sector-17.

Agitating panchayat secretaries being taken to Model Jail, Burail, after being arrested from Sector 17, Chandigarh, on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

• IRB deployed for hospitalised secys

Dog drags infant’s body
SAS Nagar, January 13
In a harrowing incident, a one-day-old girl child’s body was dragged by a dog with the head of the child in its mouth across a road of the township in a half-eaten state today.

Mercury dips in Punjab, Haryana
Ludhiana coldest at 1.9
Chandigarh, January 13
The prevalent cold conditions in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh further aggravated today with minimum temperatures dropping between 2°C and 4°C below normal in most parts of the North-West region even as a thick blanket of fog enveloping the region disrupted rail, air and road traffic, throwing life out of gear.

• Cold claims 3 more lives in city

• UT Police to serve tea to freezing cops

Watch that pakora, it may be Shiva’s prasad
SAS Nagar, January 13
During festivals the rule of the thumb is to have fun unlimited. Openly selling ‘fun and merriment’ in the form of bhang tikkis and pakoras were rehriwallahas at the Lohri mela organised at Daon village here.

Bhang tikkis and pakoras being sold openly at Daon village during two-day Lohri mela that began in SAS Nagar on Monday. — Photo Parvesh Chauhan

COMMUNITY

Admn stops pushing; people welcome cycle tracks
Chandigarh, January 13
The latest attempt by city planners to solve the evergrowing traffic problem comes in the form of a separate track for slow moving vehicles starting from opposite Kisan Bhavan and till the Cricket Stadium has evoked mixed response from people here.

Municipal council election scene hots up
Panchkula, January 13
The election fever today surpassed the Lohri celebrations in the township. With just six days to go for the elections to the first Municipal Council here, candidates and their supporters were more engrossed in seeking votes than indulging in any celebrations.

BSNL phone lines damaged
Chandigarh, January 13
Hundreds of phones in Industrial Area-Phase II were affected today, as the underground cable passing through the road near Tribune Chowk was damaged by a construction company, widening the road.

THE COST OF DEVELOPMENT: Construction of a new road in the Industrial Area, Phase II, has led to snapping of telephone cable wires and rendered more than 1000 phones dead. — A Tribune photograph

LEAF FROM HISTORY
Tales that are ‘well’ said
As the urban development authorities fill up the last of the household wells, a chapter in history comes to an end. Soil being spread over history, rather its remnants, these wells tell tales which have helped historians recreate history of generations of families.

FAUJI BEAT
Label battle deprives soldiers of liquor
The sale of liquor in the CSD canteen at Una in Himachal Pradesh (HP) has been banned since November 15, 2002, because of a tussle between the Excise and Taxation Departments of HP and Punjab. The liquor canteen is supplied by the Canteen Stores Department Depot, Jalandhar, and the label on the liquor bottles is marked as “For sale in Punjab only ”.

Some of the antique guns at Barki-Sehjra Hall, Ferozepore.

• Antique guns
• NBC warfare seminar
• Defence studies

BJYM signature campaign from tomorrow
Chandigarh, January 13
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) will start collecting signatures in the city on January 15 to present these to UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan to draw his attention to global and cross-border terrorism and ISI activities in the country.

Extension area residents pin hopes on own representatives
Panchkula, January 13
Having given up on the Haryana Urban Development Authority for treating them as poor country cousins, the hope for hundreds of residents of Panchkula Extension lies in electing their own representatives to the Municipal Council.

Fog prevents Jatia’s visit
Chandigarh, January 13
Fog prevented Union Social Empowerment Minister Satyanarayan Jatia from coming to the city even as day-long sunshine brought the activity in the city back after days of overcast.

PFA holds dharna
Panchkula, January 13
The local chapter of People For Animals today staged a dharna in protest against the dilapidated condition of the cattle pound in Old Panchkula today.

MC scheme to collect garbage
Chandigarh, January 13
The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh here today announced its new garbage collection scheme, designating certain places for bringing garbage, to Sector 27 and 28 from January 20.

Youth Cong men warn PUDA officials
SAS Nagar, January 13
Members of the district Youth Congress, (DYC) Ropar, in a statement issued here today warned officials of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) to take strict action against those responsible for allegedly causing unnecessary delays in the long pending works of the public at the Estate Office in the township.

EDUCATION

PU to constitute statutory bodies
Chandigarh, January 13
The constitution of top statutory bodies of Panjab University concerning academic, administrative and extra-curricular activities on the campus and affiliated colleges comes on the top of agenda in the forthcoming Syndicate meeting later this week.

NIFT student to hold exhibition at Bangalore
Chandigarh, January 13
Kanika Kumar, a budding designer, is getting ready to exhibit her creations on a grand scale in Bangalore. A final-year student from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bangalore, Kanika has come up with an amazing range of casual and kids’ wear for her first exhibition.

Canadian team visits CIIS
SAS Nagar, January 13
A team from Canada inspected the facilities and standards being maintained by the Canadian Institute for International Studies (CIIS) here today.

COURTS

NK Jain’s bail plea, request for identification parade dismissed
Chandigarh, January 13
A bail plea moved by N.K. Jain, former UT Home Secretary and senior Haryana bureaucrat, and request application for arranging identification parade in the rape case of a Shimla-based girl were today dismissed by the UT Judicial Magistrate(First Class), Mr K.K. Goel.

Punwire scam: court notice to CBI
Chandigarh, January 13
Acting on the bail application moved by the former General Manager of the State Co-operative Bank Chandigarh, Mr Vinod Sharma, in a case of his alleged involvement in a scam of Rs 11 crore a local court today issued a notice to CBI to file a reply.